It will not always be summer; build barns. The potting shed goes on...

[echt]

Please ignore my first, illiterate thread. I'll try again.

I hope this quotation from Hesiod captures the moment of movement from high summer to the splendours of harvest and the planing for the new year.

:o

The sherbet colours are a big part of the appeal, I think, with interesting foliage adding to that. I was, though, given an indoor begonia which had little to commend it apart from the deep red of its flowers and which I am struggling to love , ingrate that I am.

Christopher Lloyd's book converted me to Begonias. Sadly, they wouldn't work for the preschool garden as everything must be completely hardy, robust and low maintenance.

I'd never heard of Lad's Love; I had to look it up and was quite surprised it turned out to be Artemisia! It's on the list, though I will probably have to choose between that and curry plant as they are quite similar. Twisted willow is a brilliant suggestion.

Would you want a twisted hazel, Rhubarb? I have one in a big pot of which I want rid.

Twisted Hazel would be even better actually, as twisted willow gets a bit big. I'd love it, Maud, thank you, but I've no idea how I'd collect it!

Yes, that's the tricky bit. Are you not coming up here any time soon-ish? I guess Fed Ex-ing it would be prohibitive.

Hmm no plans to. And when I do, it's usually on the train so I wouldn't be able to carry a large plant!

Let me ponder...

I've been pondering and may have a couple of options. Let me ponder some more ...

This weekend has had glorious sunshine, so have been blasting aphids and whitefly on the climbing rose and brugmansia respectively. A very satisfying job was dividing two very overgrown and top heavy crucifix orchids. It meant the loss of quite a lot of flowers, but the new, shorter offshoots should flower this year. I also managed to find one in a new colour, a very deep fiery red-orange, rather like crocosmia "Lucifer".

Best of all was seeing a "new" bird in the garden, a spotted pardalote. W found a dead one a few years ago, that had flown into the window.

This is what one looks like:

Hello again, Echt. What a pretty little bird.

I had great success blasting the woolly aphids off the apple tree with a spray of soapy water. Not an EU-approved pesticide, I know, but very effective.

Maud, I'm using a soapy water and veg oil mix on the brugmansia: the big name pesticides had zilch effect, so here's hoping.

The blue tits in my garden ate the aphids off the rosebuds. They sucked them off, leaving the buds behind!

Do you think those little birds are related?

Good point, funnyperson, and I can remember blue tits pecking away at aphids when in the UK. Pardalotes live in the canopy of eucalypts which are big trees, which is why I was astounded and pleased to see one flitting about. They are about the size of a blue tit and are called the headache bird.

Sadly there are fewer each year,because of trees being cut down. Two 60-footers gone this week near me.

They're very pretty Echt, why are they called the headache bird ? We have a fair few blue tits but also a fair few aphids still.

Did my post holiday inspection and admire how much something's had grown. I'm still waiting for the dahlias though, one open and otters nearly are but I feel impatient now.

Planted out a couple of asters I took as divisions in the spring. Tools fair few and planted most direct. The ones I put in the pots though have done a fair bit better. I'm nurturing a couple of bits of heuchura from my plant that has been flowering beautifully since the spring - think it is heuchura 'rave on'. My Mexican fleabane is starting to germinate and I want clumps of that around the place next year.

Hoping once the dahlias are out plus the sedum and aster I hope there will be a good amount of color. I noticed another flower is out on one of the lupins, they have been good value for money this year.

The rhubarb I transplanted this year as it was in a dry spot and doing badly has turned into a triffid. Lovely not to come home to marrows this year.

So tulips - anyone decided yet ?!

Sugar The headache bird: you'll need to scroll down to the recording on the bottom right. I've never heard this call, so to me it seems sort of OK.

www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Pardalotus-punctatus

I'm having to transplant rhubarb, too. Only about 1 square metre of doesn't get paralysing sun, and that bit's totally dry.

Ah, I might try adding a little oil to the mix next time (although this was some exotically-scented WUL so might have already included some essential oil, perhaps. Anyway, it was surprisingly effective).

We went to Nymans with some friends, to see the big border - fabulous as ever. But actually Nymans is much improved in general, so all parts are good - it used to be a little tired elsewhere in the summer. A really good border of all salvias - I had no idea there were so many different types and colours.

There is also particularly lovely new planting in the sunken garden (I suspect for the benefit of weddings) it's so gorgeous - all frothy grasses and Gaura, and standard roses but with a few sharper colours too. Romantic but not sickly. No photos on www as yet. And then this evening quite by chance I noticed that the Gardens in Time programme on Nymans had been recorded so we watched that.

It is nice hearing about all your outings.

I love the sunken garden, Bearleigh. We considered Nymans for our wedding, but as with all NT places music has to be switched off at 11pm and can only be 'in keeping'; which turns out to mean classical or jazz. I would have been happy with jazz but DH wanted rock n roll.

Pretty little bird, echt.

I clipped my yew hedge and pruned my wisteria over the weekend.

Last night I couldn't sleep for worrying that my Nicotiana are crowding my Nerines. Today I will snip some leaves off.

It must be about a decade since I went to Nymans. I need to go again, obviously.

I love gaurs but it doesn't thrive here. My last one died and I replaced it this year but it is struggling because it's in the spot where local cats like to sunbathe and so has been flattened.

Although I have given up on growing from seed, I was very successful with nicotiana sylvestris several years ago and am tempted to try again. Better still is nicotiana langsdorfii, as grown by Carol.

Evening all here I am with a new identity following password reset Request. Can you guess who I am?

Hmm, now, let me think.

I've changed my password, but should we be changing our usernames as well?

Bit cross eyed here as spent about 3 hours clearing my inbox and outbox. Just want to reassure anyone who has sent me their address on the past that these are now deleted.

Maud I may yet do username change but for now set up an email account just for use on my MN account plus changed name on account info and deleted date of birth and postcode .

Oof. I only have one email address so will have to create another. Off now to delete contents of in and out boxes. I may be a while ...

I did it on the mobile app and had to do every single one individually which was a huge PITA. I would think on the main site there is a quicker way.

Good morning everyone.

I've just deleted all correspondence, found an address for turnip who I had promised cosmos seeds too -so sorry I forgot if she reads this.

Lovely bird echt